Views from the Pews: The Trinity offers a shared unity

Last Sunday the church celebrated Trinity Sunday. It is the start of the church’s Trinity season lasting 22 weeks. It is sometimes called ordinary time, but there is nothing ordinary about the Trinity, which is a fundamental doctrine in Christian theology, describing God’s unity in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Attempts have been made to describe the Trinity using analogies such as water states, ie liquid (water), solid (ice), gas (steam), or the sun’s properties such as light gases (Hydrogen and Helium), heavier elements (Oxygen, Carbon, Neon, Iron) and plasma, but all of them are imperfect descriptions.

The Trinity is a complex theological concept that is difficult to fully explain using human language, but the core idea is that God is one in essence, but manifests as three distinct persons:

God the Father: The creator and sustainer of the universe, often portrayed as the divine parent figure.

God the Son (Jesus Christ): The divine Son who became human in the person of Jesus, lived a life of love and sacrifice, and died for the sins of humanity, thereby restoring the human relationship with the Father.

God the Holy Spirit: The divine power that inspires, guides and empowers believers, often depicted as wind, fire or a dove.

Christians have a common statement of belief in the Trinity (the Nicene Creed). Significant events such as baptisms and marriages are performed in the name of the Trinity.

We may not be able to see the Trinity, but we can understand and share its unity. The Trinity is about relationship, and Christians who make up the church try to live out the same loving, interconnected relationship with one another, and with the communities amongst whom we live and work.

The church is not perfect but through the Trinity we offer unity, love and hope.